The Egyptian presidency has denied that President-elect Mohammed Mursi gave an interview to Iran's Fars agency on Monday, in which he had been reported to say that he was looking to expand ties with Tehran to create a strategic “balance” in the region.

“Mr. Mursi did not give any interview to Fars and everything that this agency has published is without foundation,” a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency told the official news agency MENA.

Earlier, Fars had quoted him as saying he was interested in better relations with Tehran, Reuters reported. “This will create a balance of pressure in the region, and this is part of my program.”

Iran's version of how to fake friends and influence people was not successful.

But that did not stop Iran from trying again.

Of course, the second time, you could not blame the Iranian media from trying to recoup from the embarrassment of having the president of Iran speak out against the Syrian regime during his first official visit in Iran.

Iran’s triumphal stewardship of the Nonaligned Movement summit meeting here veered off script on Thursday when the two most prominently featured guest speakers — President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon — denounced the repression of the armed uprising in Syria, a close Iranian ally.

Syria’s foreign minister walked out in protest over Mr. Morsi’s remarks at the meeting, the largest international conference in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Bahrain has demanded an apology from Iran for an incorrect translation of a speech that appeared to list the island nation as one of the Arab states to have experienced a revolution in the past year.

The Bahraini government lodged a complaint with Iranian officials after Farsi interpreters translating a speech by Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi on Iranian state television and radio replaced the word "Syria" with "Bahrain."

Morsi, who was elected president in June, made his remarks on August 30 during a meeting in Tehran of the Nonaligned Movement.

Iran would like to paint Egypt as an ally, especially with the Assad regime on the ropes in Syria. But unlike Syria, Egypt sees itself as a leader in the region and will not step in line with Iran. In that respect, Egypt will be more like Turkey -- headache for Iran's plans for regional control.

No matter what Iran claims Morsi says.

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About Me

When I am not blogging at Daled Amos, I am sharing articles and the great posts of others on my account on Google Plus.

I write about the Middle East in general and about Israel in particular -- especially about issues affecting Israel in the Middle East and how Israel is impacted by policy in the current Obama administration.